Fellow Chinese company ZTE is the new player, and it has unveiled the Nubia Z5S Mini that promises to offer the same functionalities from mainstream smartphones in a cheaper priced unit.

But unlike cheap, knock-off phones with their poor design imitation, the ZTE Nubia Z5S Mini is designed by Italian artist, Stefano Giovannoni. With a thickness of 7.6mm and weighing 120gm, the smartphone sports a 4.7in HD display and 13MP rear camera as well as 5MP front camera for the selfie addicts out there.

On the inside, Nubia Z5S Mini runs on a slightly outdated Android 4.2, and is powered by Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon 600 processor, 2GB RAM, as well as Bluetooth 4.0.

Where and when will it be available?

According to ZTE CIS handset business unit president, Jacky Zhang, Asia-Pacific is a primary market target for ZTE. "We have focused on B2B businesses in the past but now, we are ready to establish our brand in the retail market, and we are confident that our products will suit the consumers’ needs," said Zhang.

UPDATED: If the number of smartphones to choose from isn’t tough enough, ZTE will also be ramping up its rollout within the region with the Blade L2 and KIS 3 smartphones in the coming months.

Pricing for the units are currently provided in Indonesian Ringgit - the Nubia Z5S Mini will cost RP3,999.000 (S$422), the Blade L2 at RP1,699.000 (S$179), and the KIS 3 at RP999,000 (S$105); so you can expect the Singapore pricing to be similar to that.

And there's a range of colours to choose from - white front with a black back, white front with white back, black front with white back, and black front with black back. If these options are too common for you, there will be four backs (blue, green, yellow, and pink) for you to customise them.

The Blade L2 and KIS 3 will debut in Singapore before the Nubia Z5S Mini does, but all that can be said for now is that the range will be available by end 2014.